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What a Tool.

Well I’ll tell you who knows it now – this girl. The one blogging this right now.

For my Technical Theatre Production class, we had took a test in which we had to recognize and name 20 commonly used tools in the scene shop. Easier said than done.

When we took our tour of the shop, I wrote down a list of 50 – that’s 50!! – tools. Everything ranging from a sawzall to a speed square (which isn’t even a square! It’s a TRIANGLE!?!!), a vice clamp and a vice (there IS a difference!), a rasp and a router. Of course there were your standard pliers (along with thousands of variations that do different tasks), hammers (which are technically called claw hammers), and levels, however, there were also 4 DIFFERENT kinds of saws, not to mention the long list of wrenches.

A girl could get lost in this sea of mechanical mayhem. But I didn’t.

Instead of feeling overwhelmed, I felt a little empowered. Although I still had a hard time learning them all ( I still can’t tell you ALL the technical names for every tool), it’s nice to know all those tools and what they’re for. It makes me feel like I could take on any leaky pipe, splinter, or loose floor board that I encounter in my future. Moral of the story, Technical Theatre Production teches you so many invaluable lessons that don’t just apply to the theatre. These are skills for life.